Mechanism of hydrogen action from catalyst research
A catalyst catalyzes a chemical reaction, but is not a substance that changes itself. The common core issues of catalytic reactions are assisted electron transfer and reactant contact, in which electron transfer is mainly assisted by the use of transition metal elements. Whether hydrogen, as a unique substance, can play a unique role in catalytic reactions is worthy of study and consideration. It is further speculated that in biological systems, where electron transfer is also prevalent and enzyme catalysis is a fundamental mode of reaction, whether hydrogen affects and interferes with the electron transfer process, and if it can have such an effect, it may be the key mode of hydrogen’s functioning that we have been hoping to understand.In 2015, British scholars found that hydrogen can be consumed in large quantities in the animal body, which suggests that hydrogen has a very high rate of bioavailability , without enzyme-catalyzed assistance, the likelihood of hydrogen being degraded chemically in a body with low concentrations and body temperature conditions is virtually nil. This sizable change must hide the great secret of the biological effects of hydrogen.
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Personally, I believe that hydrogen should be a kind of protease activity regulator, which is regulated by interacting with some metal ions to increase or decrease enzyme activity. Therefore, we should carry out research on the direct modulation of various enzyme activities by hydrogen, and perhaps find the target molecules for the action of hydrogen. The modulating effect of hydrogen on enzyme activities may be characterized by broad spectrum, mildness and optimization. Activity modulators are in fact widely available, e.g., redox state, temperature, pH and osmolality can all belong to a wide range of enzyme activity modulators. Hydrogen is merely one way that has not been recognized in the past.
In 1794, the Scottish chemist Elizabeth Fulham wrote about combustion in her book. She noticed a strange phenomenon, that carbon or coal burned more easily when wet. After repeated experiments, she confirmed this phenomenon and concluded that water can break down at high temperatures into hydrogen and oxygen, and that hydrogen-oxygen reacts with other substances in a way that promotes the combustion reaction but results in the formation of equal amounts of water again. In other words, water was involved in the reaction, but the total amount did not change. Historians of science consider this to be catalyst science describes a catalyst as a material that promotes a chemical reaction but is not itself consumed. Suzanne Scott of the University of California, Santa Barbara, said that there would be no modern chemistry without catalysts, and that catalysts are very powerful, not only as conditions for chemical reactions, but also in determining the direction and manner of chemical reactions.
Catalysts are used in 90% of industrial chemical processes and are even more important in the production of products such as energy, petrochemicals, drugs and fertilizers. At least 15 Nobel Prizes in Chemistry have been awarded for catalyst research, and there are still millions of chemists around the world working to invent and optimize catalysts. The use of catalysts is aimed at obtaining precise and controllable reactions, reducing the number of reaction steps and saving energy and resources, which is a necessity for the sustainability of the chemical industry and contributes to solving the increasingly serious problems of climate anomalies and environmental pollution. Catalysts are an important feature of “green chemistry” and a way to realize it. Catalysts are also an important basis for solving the energy crisis and an essential means of using energy that is more inert and cleaner than traditional fossil fuels. Catalysts are used, for example, to break down water more easily into hydrogen and oxygen, and to efficiently utilize biomass and carbon dioxide. According to Melanie Sanford, a chemist at the University of Michigan, these models are nearing maturity in both thought and technology.
These needs are greatly driving innovative research on catalysts, and academic papers on catalysts have tripled in the past decade. Many groups are inventing catalysts for small molecule complexes or chemically tailoring protein molecules to find enzymes with new catalytic activities. There are also research groups using nanotechnology to design solid catalysts at the atomic scale. Others are experimenting with photocatalysts, or with the double-helix structure of DNA. The high rate of innovation is also putting a lot of pressure on academics in the field. Scott, who heads the U.S. Department of Energy’s effort to establish benchmarks for the performance of new catalysts, says efforts must be made to ensure very high efficiency in advancing scientific progress.
John Hartwig, a chemist at the University of California at Blogley, said that 20 years ago no one in the field was able to perform fine modification operations on complex molecules, and everyone took apart complex structures before assembling them. But now it’s different, and chemists are able to finely edit parts of molecules.
Catalysts are like shortcuts between reactions and products, allowing chemical reactions to bypass many pathways and speed up the reaction. A catalyst is like a multi-lane highway between two sites, or an efficient mixer of reacting molecules.
